Nearly Perfect
by Leutheria
Summary: Darker theme; gijinka experimentation; accepting some characters read A/N first chapter; Team Rocket is trying to create the perfect balance between human and Pokemon. They want to create being that are human, but with all the strength and ability of Pokemon, but science isn't perfect. It's a long, difficult process of trial and error, much to the dismay of an Absol Gijinka.


**A/N: Rated T for language and violence. This includes: police violence, guns, unethical experimentation.**

**I'm accepting ideas for characters—particularly Gijinkas—for anyone interested. Just PM me details or leave a review (if you have the time to give me some constructive criticism too, what would be appreciated.) Please at least read the story first so you understand the circumstances. **

**Details you should include: what kind of gijinka or trainer, name, age (less than 20y.o), appearance, basic personality, strengths/weakness (I don't mean type weaknesses)**

**Don't send me your most favored OC if you don't want me to make some changes based on circumstances of the story and I won't be using every design, sorry!) And I'd like to clarify that they more-than-likely won't play a major role.**

**Edit: past/present tenses fixed**

My life has always been this room: a plain white room which is approximately twenty white tiles wide and thirty tiles long, with about half as many ceiling tiles since they're slightly bigger. (I've had a lot of time to count.) There's a bed in the corner—silver frame, white sheets—and a single toilet and sink. Along one of the long walls, there's a door and a large mirror. I hate that mirror. I hate my reflection.

Compared to the people who've walked through that door, I look pathetic. I look thin and bony and my skin is pale and almost-gray looking compared to the women in the white coat with a rosy nose and cheeks. Her hair is thick and curly, hanging down to her waist while I'm lucky that any hair remains on my head at all. Every time I brush my fingers through my hair, thin, white strands of hair curl around my fingers. I've ended up with a lopsided look because my hair is longer on one half of my head head.

When she walks in the door, she looks so sorry for me, but the reaction is delayed like she's getting into character. Her eyebrows knit together and she purses her lips before talking to me in a completely different tone from the one she uses with the other scientists when relaying data from tests. Maybe she thinks I'm stupid or maybe she's trying to comfort me, but I'm not sure she does it for my sake as much as her own.

She calls me a 'Gijinka'. I don't know exactly what that means except that I'm different from her and the others in similar white coats. I know that my white hair, red eyes, and the blue oval in the middle of my forehead come from a part of me called 'Absol', but I don't know what means either. They tell me that they're from a group called Team Rocket and I'm in Viridian Forest, more words and phrases that mean nothing to me. I learned to stop asking questions a long time ago, so I just shut up and do what they ask so they can jot down numbers on a clipboard, even though the needles sometimes hurt.

Other days, like today, there's no tests at all and I'm left sitting in the silence of my room to contemplate life. I always sit on my bed and lean up against the wall—fidgeting with my clothes or the bed sheets—but unlike other days there's a throbbing pain in my head. I bring my legs up to my chest and put my face between my knees, hoping that shutting off the bright lights of my room would ease some of the pain. I've gotten headaches like this before, but they've rarely been so severe. I keep quiet and don't call out to anyone. They've never done anything to help, they've just pulled me away for more tests.

Half an hour later, there's a loud noise and the walls around me shake ever so slightly. One of the lights flickers briefly before returning to its usual irritating brightness. Footsteps clatter against the floor outside my door.

"There's trouble on the ground floor!" Shouts a vaguely familiar voice; one of the scientists probably. Another explosion sounds off, this time much closer and the flickering light gives a last shutter of light before going dark. "The League's force is here."

There's an abruptness to their sentence, like they want to say something more, but are at a loss for what to say. They hurry off down the hallway while others run back and forth while shouting orders at one another.

_Boom… BOOM… boom boom…_

The explosions are more scattered now, some distant, some close enough that the last of the lights in my room flickered out. Now in the dark room, light poured in through what was once a mirror, allowing me to see out into the lit hallway beyond the door. A couple of scientists ran by when the lights went off and after a series of small, but rapid explosions they crumpled to the ground just beyond the edge of my view. A large and muscled man dressed in black and adorned with all sorts of shiny objects steps into view and then looks back from where he came.

"Nothing that occurs here today should leave your mouths ever, got it?" His voice is harsh and masculine. It suddenly becomes obvious to me how sweaty my hands have become, but I feel frozen in place and stare out the window. He pauses for a moment and then continues on, "Many of you thought Team Rocket had died out years ago, but these guys have kept hidden to protect a project they've been working on for two decades. It's become apparent that they've bioengineered monsters for battle. They're dangerous and unpredictable.

"Word of their existence must not leave this compound and you are to eliminate them by any means necessary, understand?"

From out of view, there's a chorus of "Yessir!"s. The large man gives a curt nod of approval and starts walking away from the hidden group.

"Our sources say that all the rooms on this floor and the one below us contain monsters. Make haste."

Bile rises up into my throat and I ball the fabric of my shirt into my fists. _'Monsters? There are monsters here? No one ever mentioned monsters…'_

The group, which had followed the large man scatter down the hall after their apparent leader, all wearing similar gear and holding similar tools. There were more short, rapid explosions and shouts that can barely be heard. I climb off the bed slowly and tiptoe over to the window despite the trembling of my knees and push my face against the class so I could look farther down the hallway. One of the boys from the group stands in front of the door, testing the doorknob cautiously when a humanoid figure comes sprinting down the hall and tumbles over him. Blood smears against the window when the figure brushes against it and then collapses on the ground a few feet away. The back of his shirt is spotted with holes and red stains that gradually grow bigger and overlap one another.

It suddenly became apparent that sticking around wasn't a good idea.

While the boy was still on the ground trying to gather his bearings after being knocked to the ground by a terrified Gijinka, I slip out the door and sprint down the hall, nearly tripping over collapsed figures lying in pools of blood in the hall,

They were all like me—well, everyone except for the ones in white coats. Human, but not quite. Some look sicklier than me or hve bizarre features—scales, tails, claws. They're all dead or dying. All I can do is run and avoid the gunfire. I run and run, turning down the halls and nearly being cornered at dead-ends. I climb up a set of stairs and run circles around much darker hallways, trying to get as far away from the explosions I can. I've had to run for tests, but never this hard. I always stopped before my legs hurt, and now it seemed like the pain was spreading everywhere and there's the taste of blood in my mouth, but I can't stop. I even run into a couple of other Gijinka trying to stay alive. No one says anything, but we move together to try and get out of here alive. A few are picked off as we encounter our pursuers, but we can't stop to mourn. I kept running until I find a doorway that lead out to a bright open space and even after I hesitate briefly, I continue to run until the sharp pain in my head eases to a dull throb.

Once we hit the outdoors, everyone scatters. I stagger a few last steps and then lower myself onto my knees and then I lean forward onto my shoulder and roll onto my back. The pain in my chest begins to ease as I catch my breath.

Time seems to slow down, back to normal. Everything that just transpired seemed so surreal and yet here I lay in the middle of trees and bushes covered in sweat and very light headed. I'm outside. I've never been outside; though I've been to an indoor garden. There's nothing man-made for as far as I can see into the trees and undergrowth and sunlight shines down through the canopy of trees.

What exactly just happened? It all seems like a blur. Everything seems like a blur. As I stare at the trees overhead, everything shifts out of focus and I close my eyes.


End file.
